It was a historic week in the sport, as two top-10 teams — Penn State and Texas — lost to unranked teams and both fell out of the rankings entirely, after suffering their second losses of the season.
The lesson should be this: Winning is hard.
All the upheaval from the preseason top-10 means we’re in store for a high-stakes, pressure-filled, wildly fun final two months of the season, where we could see some crazy playoff possibilities.
Onto this week’s ranking, which shouldn’t be too controversial.
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1. Ohio State
Ohio State’s defense has been unworldly. The Buckeyes have allowed two touchdowns this season, and one came against Ohio U when OSU allowed a season-high nine points, so I’m not even sure that should count. Ohio State opened it up a little more last week at home against an overmatched opponent, and now it gets to face an Illinois team that likes to give up big plays through the air. So long as the Illini don’t have their turnover voodoo doll out, this should be fairly straightforward for the two-plus-TD favorites.
2. Miami
There’s no doubt Miami has the best résumé of any team in the country — three wins over ranked teams and a win over Florida which still power rates pretty highly after a win over Texas. The final score Saturday read 28-22, but the game wasn’t that close, as the Seminoles made it look respectable with 19 fourth-quarter points. Carson Beck had his best game of the season, and Rueben Bain and Akeem Mesidor continue to be a nightmare for opposing offenses. There isn’t a better team in the country on the offensive and defensive lines than Miami. It gets a week off before a Friday visit from Louisville.
3. Oregon
The Ducks had a perfect break in the schedule this past week after taking Penn State’s soul in State College two Saturdays ago. It’s a dangerous game this week with Indiana, which represents the lone remaining ranked team on Oregon’s schedule. Win here, and 12-0 and a return trip to Indianapolis is very likely.
4. Texas A&M
After allowing 40 points at Notre Dame, the Aggies defense has totally shut down Auburn and Mississippi State, allowing a combined 19 points. A&M gets a Florida offense this week that looked completely different against Texas than it did against Miami and LSU, as the Gators had a season-high 457 yards. This will be a good test for A&M, which will not have another home game until Nov. 15.
5. Ole Miss
A perfect warmup this week — Washington State — before a massive game in Athens next week.
6. Alabama
Vanderbilt is a good team and had its way with Bama for long stretches of the game. Credit the Tide for taking a bunch of body blows and remaining standing at the end of four quarters. Alabama’s reward is a trip to CoMo and an offense led by Beau Pribula and Ahmad Hardy off an idle week. But the last few weeks have furthered the thought that the season-opening loss in Tallahassee was a one-off.
7. Indiana
A big prove-it game for the Hoosiers this week. A late win at offensively challenged Iowa is nice, but these are the games where respect is built. Last year, IU went to Ohio State and Notre Dame and was non-competitive, doing nothing offensively. Compete, or upset, the Ducks and that will alert the nation that the Hoosiers are about to make a return trip to the CFP.
8. Oklahoma
OU is going to be a very popular ‘dog this week. This has all the makings of a low-scoring defensive war. Long term, I’m curious to see if John Mateer is back next week at South Carolina, or if he’s held out longer so he can be fully ready for that gauntlet of ranked opponents to end the season.
9. Georgia
Was the win over Kentucky a thing of beauty? No. But a conference win is a conference win. Ask Penn State if it would like to trade places with Georgia after losing as a 24-point favorite on the road. This is a monster stretch for UGA — at Auburn (and I laid 3.5 on the lookahead line last week), against Ole Miss (which beat the Bulldogs last year), and a suddenly rejuvenated Florida. If it can make it through unscathed, it will determine if Georgia is going to return to the Playoff or join some other highly-touted teams in the preseason that are on the outside looking in.
10. Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are now the only team in the country not to trail at any point, have won every game by at least 24 points, and have outgained each opponent by over 220 yards. We’re not talking about the most difficult schedule — FCS team, Kent State, Oregon State and injury-riddled Utah — but the latter two were on the road and they won in Salt Lake with Will Hammond. Tech has been dominant. These are a couple of tricky road games at Arizona State and at Kansas State, but Tech is the clear class of the Big 12.
Chris “The Bear” Fallica has covered sports for nearly three decades. While college football has been his focus, he also enjoys the NFL, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, MLB, NHL and Horse Racing, with an “occasional” wager on such events. Chris recently won the inaugural Circa Football Invitational and finished in the Top 10 of the Golden Nugget Football Contest. He’s a multiple-time qualifier for the NHC Handicapping Championship. Remember, “The less you bet, the more you lose when you win!” Follow him on Twitter @chrisfallica.
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